The Cecil Whig., 1887-07-02
THE HOUSEHOLD.
Shall we Talk ON Extravaganza and What
are the Tendencies oi il Widening Edn-
inn II Ar in,Imst ries .


cation IN Art industries:
The love OF pretty things grows by
hat il fees on Twenty years ago 1t
was as impossible to buy most of these
pieces of luxury and prcttiness that we
have now as 1T is next to impossible Tor
tie full purse, OF even the slender one,
to day, to pass by them without buying.
You can hardly count the counters de
voted to brio a-brac in any great city;
the store houses of hangings, rugs, china,
pictures, decorative objects are as be-
wildering in the Quaker City as at Il
Worlds Fair exhibition. The school
children are Taught to make pretty OBJ
ccts, graceful forms; the older children
90 on as special students in decorative
trades What will it all come to? \ ma
tior of artists, certainly-but, at the
same time, does not modern enjoyment
i'll display of luxurious objects develop
mad extravaganza? Nobody, that is, no
lover need sing to his fair nowadays
"And We shall walk in silk ATTIRE as
tempting bait; because, whether she
works in the kitchen or the studio, she
is certain to have her own silks already
more certain in the former, indeed,
than in the latter occupation. Does de-
Yeloped taste tend to spending, rather
| than saving? The old song went on to
promise that she should, after all the tine
gowns TO walk in, AN si!ler hae to
spare" The silver is not spared. The
delightful passion of buying, grows ard
| Strengt hens with each fresh temptation
| in the windows rare shows. shop Win
| dows in Philadelphia, by the way, are
| more attractive than in any other city.
| Where else in the world are such pic
lures found? 1t is good for trade and it
| is good for the homes to have some
house split at work beautifying and re
| filming the interior even of the humblest
| little place. Beautiful, harmonious colors
are usually as xpenslve as ugly, glar-
| ing ones. American eyes are certainly
| being educated to beauty, but where
| shall the stopping point be i'll the shop
| ping point? The man Cor woman) OF
| taste in place of wanting little here be-
| low, now wants nearly everything he
| sees-all that charms the eye. Both can
scarcely deny themselves a beautiful Oh
| ject. Possession is added to possession
until the house is packed too full. 1t is
| the same with cheap as with costly pur-
| chases. When the potato -masher is
giIded to hang upon the wall, somebody
| has lost her senses. She has also thrown
| away the few dimes that such work has
| cost. And here comes in the gravest OBJ
| lection. Prettness is all very well; color
| and good form in a room are just as nee
essary to trained senses as light and air.
| 1t has not taken long to teach the quick
| witted American that even a Japanese
| fan as screen against a gas jet or kero-
seue lamp shade softens the light and
| makes the room more agreeable for the
| takers. The educated eye is great
| gift, because it will not rest content in
ugly or squalid surroundings. lC will
work, guiding the fingers say ten hours
| a day for food, shelter and clean clothes.
then another hour or two are thrown i'll
of work for pretty things about. The
sweet peas on tho fence, the geranium on
| the border, even the "hambag cottons'
| covering the chair cushion making a
| good bit of color against a gray wall
these take but little cash. The other
refined sense that Graves to have some
sweet briar fragrance come in by the
kitchen window, or that brings home the
| bunch of lavender or pond lilies from the
street merchant-hy these small things
ministers to pleasures Of pure quality.
THE COST MORE THAN TIE PRICE.
But when the same desire for beauty
| is carried into wilder spending; to the
| greatest craze and cravings that we see
around US on all sides, beyond incomes
and beyond reason or honesty of means?
| VIII it drive the husbands to trickery
| and fraud to keep up the supply of costly
extravaganza? Docs it drive the girl
whose wages are but slender to that
worst of all extravagan risking her
self and selling her self respect? Can the
shop girl, the poorly paid clerk afford to
wear these nodding plumes, rivalling the
appendages of Queen NictorIa's guests?
| Are We not running, as nation, to fish
| cries and luxurieS and eXtravaganceS i'll
| ornaments, and dress, and furniture and
foods, so that the saving habits, whereby
| the last two OF three generations made
| their fortunes, are now ScOrned by the
luxurious common people of to day?
1t seems to the WouSCh0M that safety
for the next generation will be mainly in
| It's art education, its trained hand and
eye and the ability to produce worthy
| beautiful things for itself, since the wor-
| ship of beauty will probably not go back
ward even among Puritanic and a
| Quaker people. AS an occupation the
shaping of even common things to grace
and beauty has been good training i'll
| itself. AS one nail drives out another,
so when the future ycung couples can fit
up their own houses with simple tasteful
ness, they will not have the passion Of
buying perishable trash for decorative
| attempts. The passion fer beauty will
| resolve itself i'll time under some sort of
rules. At present all is chaotic. Every
body can dress well, at little cost, yet
the love of fine, costly dress grows apace
| The purchase of sugar-plums that used
to flourish chiefly at holiday times, now
| is heavy all the year round. Wages and
reputation are often staked against such
| extravaganCeS to feed the love of beauty.
| Beauty must become a common posses
sion; and yet the taste for it must be
| exalted, refined and chastened. The
| working mans children see often the
money spent in needless fine clothes that
would help, well saved, to give them a
| little start in life. You cannot have
your cake and eat it, too. The present
demand is for eating it. The history of
the world has always brought around, in
| its due season, the revolt of the religious
| orders ana of the sober. suited SectS,
| Puritans, Quakers and the like, against
| luxurious tastes and costly living. 1t is
as natural as the backward swing of the
| pendulum. Yet there is naturally in
VOWED the counterswing again, the re-
volt against too much straitness and Sc
verify. A good judgment learns to use
/ beauty and enjoy it, without being
drowned and drugged by it. Some re
Straining influences should certainly ac
company the superb output OF pretty
things, and the education Of the eye that
makes even the small school girl take
note, in passing, Of every detail in the
| French dress III She street, should go
further to deliver and purify the taste
Peculiar
, in the combination, proportion, and prera-
! ration Of its ingredients, Hoods SarSapa-
| rilla aG@o!nplish"S cares where other prepa-
rations entirely fail. Peculiar in its good
name at home, which is a tower OF strength
abroad, . peculiar in the phenomena! sales
it has attained, Hoods Sarsaparilla is the